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' " " ' -- 7. -
75th Year No. 116 Good Morninga! It's Friday, January 28, 1983 3 Sections 16 Pages 25 Cents
i i i nun i i ii
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Rocheport trucker Oliver Hansen does not like the increase he expects in his road- ta- x costs.
Road- us- e tax: another blow to farmer
By Lydia Locklin
Missourian staff writer
Just when farmers thought they had endured
every possible economic misfortune. Congress
has approved legislation that promises to add to
their financial woes.
" It'll put a lot of people out of business," Ol-iver
Hansen says of the effect of increases in
road- us- e taxes on small truckers who haul grain
and livestock for farmers.
Hansen, a Rocheport farmer, supplements his
income by hauling grain for about 20 farmers.
" Your margin of profit isn't that great," he
says.
These truckers are not the only ones who will
be affected. The trickle- dow- n effect can be ex-pected
to reach virtually every farmer who
needs grain or livestock hauled, since truckers
are likely to pass at least a portion of their in-creased
costs on to customers.
The fact that federal legislation enacted in
December increases the gasoline tax by 5 cents
a gallon has been publicized widely. Revenue
from the increase will be used for highway and
bndge improvements, which in turn will create
jobs.
The law also increases road- us- e taxes on
trucks. Some independent interstate truckers
primarily those who haul manufactured goods
have called for a nationwide shutdown to pro-test
the increase in the tax, which is levied on a
sliding scale based on weight
Truck owners currently pay $ 3 a pound for
trucks with a full- loa- d weight of 26,000 pounds
and over.
In July 1984, the rate will be $ 50 for trucks
weighing 33,000 pounds and $ 25 for every addi-tional
1,000 pounds. The rate will be even higher
for trucks weighing 55,000 pounds or more They
will pay a base rate of $ 600, plus $ 40 for every
additional 1,000 pounds, up to the legal maxi-mum
allowable weight of 80,000 pounds.
" We wouldn't have minded if they had in-creased
it $ 100 or even $ 200," Hansen says of the
tax bike. " But, my God, look what they've gone
and done."
Hansen and his son, David, have been in the
trucking business for 15 years Each owns a
73,280- poun- d, tandem- axl- e truck, which means
each will see his tax rate increase to $ 1,600 a
year from $ 220
" I don't know how in the world we're ever
going to justify this," Hansen says of the fact
that he will have to increase hauling fees by 2 to
3 cents a bushel, or about $ 24 a load He says his
customers can expect to pay as much as $ 200 to
$ 300 a harvest season in additional hauling fees.
If there is a sdver lining in the rate increase,
it is that farmers will not be required to pay ex-tra
road- us- e taxes for their personal trucks
regardless how much they weigh as long as
they drive them less than 5,000 miles a year.
That is because the American Farm Bureau
successfully lobbied through an exemption. I
" I'm happy that it doesn't apply to me," says J
John Sam Williamson Jr., who tends 1,800 acres
west of Columbia with his father. Williamson,
who hires Hansen to haul gram from storage fa-cilities
on the Williamson farm to market in St.
Louis, says he never puts more than 2,000 miles
a year on his tandem- axl- e, 48,000- poun- d truck.
" Most farmers are that way," Williamson
says. " That's why this exemption was put in
most farmers don't drive then trucks over 5,000
miles a year "
But the exemption does little to benefit com- menc- al
haulers like Hansen. Farming has be-come
a second job, he says.
" It has to be a sideline," Hansen explains.
" You don't make anything."
$ 148 million refund
by July is projected
by St. Louis senator
By Dean Kahn
Stata Capital Bureau
JEFFERSON CITY - The state
will have to refund taxpayers from
$ 148 milLon to nearly $ 300 million by
July and may face even larger re-funds
at the end of the next fiscal
year because of the Hancock
Amendment, Sen John Schneider,
D-- St Louis, said Thursday
Those figures are in stark contrast
to administration estimates that the
state will be $ 59 million under the
revenue kd this year The adminis-tration
has said the state faces a $ 125
million refund by mid- 198- 4 if a re-cent
decision by the Missouri Su-preme
Court stands
Chns Lambrecht, Office of Admin-istration
spokesman, said he does
not forsee a scenario in which the
state would have to refund an mon-ey
this year. He reserved further
comment until his office reviews
Schneider's statement
No other administration officials
could be reached for comment
Schneider's figures were support-ed
by four prominent legislators who
signed his affidavit House Speaker
Bob F. Gnffin, D- Camer- on, House
Appropriations Chairman Marvin
Proffer, D- Jacks- on; Senate Appr-opriated
Chairman Edwin Dirck. D-- St
Ann; and Senate Minontv Floor
Leader Richard Webster, R-- Car-thage
Schneider's refund estimates are
based, in part, upon work done b
the Senate Research Staff Schne-ider's
predictions are included in his
petition seeking a rehearing of the
recent high court decision
State Attorney General John Ash- cro- ft
also has filed a motion to re-hear
the case at the request of Gov
Christopher Bond.
Schneider was one of three legis-lators
who filed a lawsuit challeng-ing
the amendent's refund provision
as well as the manner in which the
administration originally calculated
the revenue lid.
The high court ruled that the ad-ministration
erred when it included
surplus state funds in its lid calcula-tions
The court rejected, as prema-ture,
Schneider's challenge to the re-fund
mechanism because it has not
yet been implemented
The court's decision means the
state's projected revenue ior this
year will exceed the new $ 2 7 billion
lid by by $ 148 million, Schneider
said, adding that that figure was
presented by the administration at
the trial of his lawsuit
He said the administration s new-er
estimate of no refund for this ear
is based upon an unreaksticaliy low
estimate 6 7 percent of growth
in state tax collections for this v ear
Schneider said state receipts for
Jul 1982 through Ikiember 1982
grew at a much higher rate, 8 2 per-cent,
and that receipts for Januarv
show a 50 percent jump over last
January s growth
Those figures as well as a recent
growth in sales tax rev enue. indicate
the state's economy is stronger than
the administration s figures would
show, he said
Those higher rates of revenue
growth also mean that next ear's
refund likely Mil be higher tfian pre-dicted
b the administration It is
unlikely it would be as low as $ 125
million, he said
The St IOuls Count senator said
the onh wav the state can avoid a
refund next fiscal year is by experi-encing
a major recession with at
least 14 percent unemployment
Schneider said refunds for this
vear and next will be further en-larged
bv the revenue generated bv
Proposition C, the initiatve passed
last November that raised the state
sales tax to aid local school districts
and to lower property taxes
Schneider says Proposition C mon-ey
is state revenue and thus subject
to the Hancock lid and refund provi-sions
Some legislators have as-serted
that Proposition C money is
local rev enue
The administration estimates that
Proposition C will generate $ 113 mil-lion
this vear and more than $ 300
million next year
Similarly, Schneider said tuition
and fees raised by the University
and other state colleges should be
considered state revenue, thus in-creasing
any refunds by additional
nulkons of dollars
In addition, Schneider said that
appropriations approved by the last
legislature will exceed the revenue
hd by $ 323 million The Hancock
Amendment, in addition to limiting
state revenue, also prohibits state
expenses from exceeding the reve-nue
kd figure
Schneider has long argued that the
Hancock Amendment's refund
mechanism is unconstitutional be-cause
it would refund state money,
which comes from a variety of
sources, onlv to those who pay state
lnr- om-e
tax
He said that an average of 300,000
residents and 16,000 corporations
pay no income tax and thus would
receiv e no refund.
One year after fires, Centralians count their blessings
By Adam Jahiel
Missounan staff writer
iTENTKALIA Two kids run
fl across a vacant lot between S houses on South Rollins Street
One scales a small white fence but
avoids the middle, which is black,
charred by fire.
He runs on past a gas pipe protrud-ing
from the ground. A walkway
branches off from the sidewalk
crossing the front of the lot Two
huge trees their tops as black as
mat section of fence guard the
front comers of the property.
A year ago, there was a house
here. Today, it is simply a reminder
of Jan. 28, 1932 the day Centraka
burned.
Though time has healed many vi-sual
reminders of the fires, Central-ians'
memories of that day remain
vivid. Many have mixed emotions
about what happened, and most can-not
believe a year has passed.
Twelve months ago, residents
were counting then-- losses family
pets, keepsakes, valuables, prop-erty.
Today, they talk of looking
back and realize that although they
lost much, they also gained.
Most residents say the disaster
seemed to bring the community to-gether.
People worked together and
made it through the pains of lost
homes. The goodwill, the caring, the
assistance and the sacrifices remain
inthe minds of those involved.
Shortly before 10: 30 ajn. one year
ago today, a city employee acciden-tally
severed a natural gas control
line while digging a trench with a
backhoe. A blast of high pressure
gas shot through the city's low pres-sure
system. Within seconds, pilot
lights on stoves, water heaters and
furnaces turned into flame throwers.
More than 50 buildings were burned.
DGaaxi?
Miraculously, no one was killed.
At 10 30 a. m the fire dispatcher
received the first calL Within 20 min-utes
another 36 calls were received
Soon after those first calls, the fire
departments of Boone County,
Hallsville and Sturgeon arrived.
Firefighters from Little Dixie Fire
Protection District, Moberly, Mexi-co,
Columbia, Ashland, Randolph
County, HuntsvHle, Pans and High- be- e
all sped to Centraka. Areas with-out
firetrucks sent men in any avail-able
vehicle All in all, 17 or 18 units
with 150 to 200 firefighters helped
battle the blazes.
Even so, there were problems: Be-cause
Centraka had a six- ma- n police
department, a volunteer fire depart-ment
and a brand new civil defense
group, there was not enough help im
mediately available.
" You have to get on a fire within
the first 8 to 10 minutes, or you real-ly
don't stand much of a chance,"
says Fire Chief Terry Mansfield
Despite all efforts, rune homes
burned to the ground and more than
50 other builidings were damaged.
Cox, 77, hved at 313 N. Al-N'etlean
St in the house where she
was born in 1905. She grew up
there, left, and then returned after
marrying. Mrs. Cox was at home
when the bouse caught fire.
Her two sons had finished remod-eling
it just four months before the
fire. " I was so proud of my house,
but that pnde was short- live- d. It was
a terrible experience and at my age
it must be twice as bad."
Mrs. Cox went to a relief center,
where she followed the disaster on
the news. " I watched my house bum
down on the news so many times,"
she says " I try to look at it in a good
way. It must have happened for a
good reason, but I'm not sure what
that reason is . . .
" It was wonderful the way every-body
pulled together," she contin-ues,
" but it's a terrible way to find
out who your friends are " The
townspeople really worked hard to
help each other, she says
Kessler, 18, was in school Kenthat morning. He was walking
down a hall when a friend told
him his house was on fire At first he
thought it was a joke, but then the
school custodian told him to go
home
When he arrived at 330 S. Hickman
he saw his house ablaze His father,
Richard, stood in the front yard
" The first thing I did was ask Dad
See CENTRALIANS. Page BA
Lonely wait ended
Family introductions begin new life after seven- ye- ar separation
United Press International correspondent
Paid Vogle was forced to leave his Vietnamese
wife and their three children when Saigon feB
ia UTS. Be was reunited with Ids family Thurs-day.
He filed this report
HO CHI MDJH CITY, Vietnam We had
been separated for seven years, seven months
and 22 days but when Mai Chi and my three
children ran across the departure lounge to
hug me, the long, lonely years melted away
like magic.
The reunion was an emfft?"" moment for
my wife and me, bat five minutes after their
mother had reintroduced the lads to their long- lo- st
father, the three of them were chattering
away like I'd just come home from a day at the
OffVy,
Tuan, 11, began tugguig my sleeve, asking if
he really could go ice skating when we get
home to Plymouth, Mich.
Then, bored with watching his mother and
I rne exchange whispered endearments, he dove
into my shoulder bag and scampered off with
my tape recorder and my camera both of
which he learned to operate with alarming
speed.
My eldest boy, Kiet, 15, tried to be more
grown- u- p, but when I admitted ignorance
about his chances of making the local football
team he ran off to join his brother in mischief .
My living doll To Nga, 12, primly inquired
about the school she would be attending and
bow soon she could start because " Daddy, I've
missed quite a bit already."
Mai Chi looked thin and tired after so many
years of keeping the family clothed and fed
wim the illegal sidewalk coffee shop she ran in
Saigon,
" I jusfrneed to relax for a while," she said
when I asked her what she would like to do
first " I've been waiting for you for seven
years and I'm sovery tired."
The site of our family reunion, Tan SonTJhut
Airport, was the place where I first met Mai
Chi in 1964 when she was a 19- year- o- ld
salesgirl at the souvenir counter and I was a
32- year-- old war correspondent
We were quietly married by a Roman Catho-lic
pnest in 1967, bought a farm outside Saigon
and settled down to raise a family. We made
one tragic mistake we neglected to register
our marriage at the local city halL
When Communist forces marched victorious
into Saigon on April 30, 1975, rumors of a blood-bath
spread and, frightened for our children,
Mai Chi destroyed our church marriage certif-icate
and every other document that linked her
to the American enemy.
The bureaucratic tangks had begun and
when I was escorted to a plane out of Vietnam
on June 5, 1975, 1 had to go alone.
The following seven years of red tape, lost
documents, bungling by both our governments
and ourselves was a nightmare that will haunt
me for the rest ofmy life.
The bitter state of U- S.- Vietaam-ese
relations
made it all the more difficult to piece together
the documentation we needed for family reuni--
fication.
I was petrified she would tire of waiting for
me that she would remarry, or worse, join
the hundreds of thousands of ' boat people"
who fled Vietnam illegally and became the
easy prey of tropical storms or pirates bent on
rape and murder.
This year there was a ntw fear Kiet turns 16
this summer the draft age in Vietnam. I was
terrified that he would be drafted and sent to
Cambodia with Vietnam's 200,000- ma- n occupa-tion
force
But when word came that we had satisfied
both the American and the Vietnamese bu-reaucracies
and my family soon would be with
me, my nightmares turned to sweet dreams.
And the reality is even better than the best of
those dreams.
We leave for Plymouth next week where we
will remarry in a ceremony designed to meet
the requirements of the ILS. Immigration au-thorities.
And then we can get down to the busi-ness
of Irving happily ever after.
Body found;
suspects held
Two suspects were in custody
Thursday night in connection with
the death of Darryl R Murray, 40, of
4203 W Rollins Road.
Murray's body was found about
9 30 p m Thursday in the Finger
Lakes State Park area seven miles
north of Columbia, according to a
Columbia Police Department press
release
Murray was reported missing
Monday
Boone County Medical Examiner
Jay Dix said the cause of death has
not been determined. The body ap-peared
to be frozen, said Dix, who
was taken by police to the site where
it was found
Dix said he expected to perform
an autopsy today
Pokce refused to release any addi-tional
details
W) S7 6pm Boys basketball. Rock
Bridge vs Fulton. Rock Bridge
gym
6pm Boys basketball Hick
man vs Springfield Parkview
Hickman gym
7pm Star Trek City on the
Edge of Forever film Room
114. University Physics Build
mg
8 pm Consortium Chamber
Players and soprano Debra
Dean Lata Raney Wood Ball
room Stephens College
Inside
Business 7A
Classified 3- 4- C
Comics 6A
Opinion &
Record 7A 1
Sports 1-- 3C
Weekend 1- 4- B I

' " " ' -- 7. -
75th Year No. 116 Good Morninga! It's Friday, January 28, 1983 3 Sections 16 Pages 25 Cents
i i i nun i i ii
tsBs " JsrcSSSBSOtSSSBBBKSmBMBBBSfvBB aJjaWBafiaaL?. rf 3iiffiffiBWBBBBHHHwBBB bhBhd 5ft
Rocheport trucker Oliver Hansen does not like the increase he expects in his road- ta- x costs.
Road- us- e tax: another blow to farmer
By Lydia Locklin
Missourian staff writer
Just when farmers thought they had endured
every possible economic misfortune. Congress
has approved legislation that promises to add to
their financial woes.
" It'll put a lot of people out of business," Ol-iver
Hansen says of the effect of increases in
road- us- e taxes on small truckers who haul grain
and livestock for farmers.
Hansen, a Rocheport farmer, supplements his
income by hauling grain for about 20 farmers.
" Your margin of profit isn't that great," he
says.
These truckers are not the only ones who will
be affected. The trickle- dow- n effect can be ex-pected
to reach virtually every farmer who
needs grain or livestock hauled, since truckers
are likely to pass at least a portion of their in-creased
costs on to customers.
The fact that federal legislation enacted in
December increases the gasoline tax by 5 cents
a gallon has been publicized widely. Revenue
from the increase will be used for highway and
bndge improvements, which in turn will create
jobs.
The law also increases road- us- e taxes on
trucks. Some independent interstate truckers
primarily those who haul manufactured goods
have called for a nationwide shutdown to pro-test
the increase in the tax, which is levied on a
sliding scale based on weight
Truck owners currently pay $ 3 a pound for
trucks with a full- loa- d weight of 26,000 pounds
and over.
In July 1984, the rate will be $ 50 for trucks
weighing 33,000 pounds and $ 25 for every addi-tional
1,000 pounds. The rate will be even higher
for trucks weighing 55,000 pounds or more They
will pay a base rate of $ 600, plus $ 40 for every
additional 1,000 pounds, up to the legal maxi-mum
allowable weight of 80,000 pounds.
" We wouldn't have minded if they had in-creased
it $ 100 or even $ 200," Hansen says of the
tax bike. " But, my God, look what they've gone
and done."
Hansen and his son, David, have been in the
trucking business for 15 years Each owns a
73,280- poun- d, tandem- axl- e truck, which means
each will see his tax rate increase to $ 1,600 a
year from $ 220
" I don't know how in the world we're ever
going to justify this," Hansen says of the fact
that he will have to increase hauling fees by 2 to
3 cents a bushel, or about $ 24 a load He says his
customers can expect to pay as much as $ 200 to
$ 300 a harvest season in additional hauling fees.
If there is a sdver lining in the rate increase,
it is that farmers will not be required to pay ex-tra
road- us- e taxes for their personal trucks
regardless how much they weigh as long as
they drive them less than 5,000 miles a year.
That is because the American Farm Bureau
successfully lobbied through an exemption. I
" I'm happy that it doesn't apply to me," says J
John Sam Williamson Jr., who tends 1,800 acres
west of Columbia with his father. Williamson,
who hires Hansen to haul gram from storage fa-cilities
on the Williamson farm to market in St.
Louis, says he never puts more than 2,000 miles
a year on his tandem- axl- e, 48,000- poun- d truck.
" Most farmers are that way," Williamson
says. " That's why this exemption was put in
most farmers don't drive then trucks over 5,000
miles a year "
But the exemption does little to benefit com- menc- al
haulers like Hansen. Farming has be-come
a second job, he says.
" It has to be a sideline," Hansen explains.
" You don't make anything."
$ 148 million refund
by July is projected
by St. Louis senator
By Dean Kahn
Stata Capital Bureau
JEFFERSON CITY - The state
will have to refund taxpayers from
$ 148 milLon to nearly $ 300 million by
July and may face even larger re-funds
at the end of the next fiscal
year because of the Hancock
Amendment, Sen John Schneider,
D-- St Louis, said Thursday
Those figures are in stark contrast
to administration estimates that the
state will be $ 59 million under the
revenue kd this year The adminis-tration
has said the state faces a $ 125
million refund by mid- 198- 4 if a re-cent
decision by the Missouri Su-preme
Court stands
Chns Lambrecht, Office of Admin-istration
spokesman, said he does
not forsee a scenario in which the
state would have to refund an mon-ey
this year. He reserved further
comment until his office reviews
Schneider's statement
No other administration officials
could be reached for comment
Schneider's figures were support-ed
by four prominent legislators who
signed his affidavit House Speaker
Bob F. Gnffin, D- Camer- on, House
Appropriations Chairman Marvin
Proffer, D- Jacks- on; Senate Appr-opriated
Chairman Edwin Dirck. D-- St
Ann; and Senate Minontv Floor
Leader Richard Webster, R-- Car-thage
Schneider's refund estimates are
based, in part, upon work done b
the Senate Research Staff Schne-ider's
predictions are included in his
petition seeking a rehearing of the
recent high court decision
State Attorney General John Ash- cro- ft
also has filed a motion to re-hear
the case at the request of Gov
Christopher Bond.
Schneider was one of three legis-lators
who filed a lawsuit challeng-ing
the amendent's refund provision
as well as the manner in which the
administration originally calculated
the revenue lid.
The high court ruled that the ad-ministration
erred when it included
surplus state funds in its lid calcula-tions
The court rejected, as prema-ture,
Schneider's challenge to the re-fund
mechanism because it has not
yet been implemented
The court's decision means the
state's projected revenue ior this
year will exceed the new $ 2 7 billion
lid by by $ 148 million, Schneider
said, adding that that figure was
presented by the administration at
the trial of his lawsuit
He said the administration s new-er
estimate of no refund for this ear
is based upon an unreaksticaliy low
estimate 6 7 percent of growth
in state tax collections for this v ear
Schneider said state receipts for
Jul 1982 through Ikiember 1982
grew at a much higher rate, 8 2 per-cent,
and that receipts for Januarv
show a 50 percent jump over last
January s growth
Those figures as well as a recent
growth in sales tax rev enue. indicate
the state's economy is stronger than
the administration s figures would
show, he said
Those higher rates of revenue
growth also mean that next ear's
refund likely Mil be higher tfian pre-dicted
b the administration It is
unlikely it would be as low as $ 125
million, he said
The St IOuls Count senator said
the onh wav the state can avoid a
refund next fiscal year is by experi-encing
a major recession with at
least 14 percent unemployment
Schneider said refunds for this
vear and next will be further en-larged
bv the revenue generated bv
Proposition C, the initiatve passed
last November that raised the state
sales tax to aid local school districts
and to lower property taxes
Schneider says Proposition C mon-ey
is state revenue and thus subject
to the Hancock lid and refund provi-sions
Some legislators have as-serted
that Proposition C money is
local rev enue
The administration estimates that
Proposition C will generate $ 113 mil-lion
this vear and more than $ 300
million next year
Similarly, Schneider said tuition
and fees raised by the University
and other state colleges should be
considered state revenue, thus in-creasing
any refunds by additional
nulkons of dollars
In addition, Schneider said that
appropriations approved by the last
legislature will exceed the revenue
hd by $ 323 million The Hancock
Amendment, in addition to limiting
state revenue, also prohibits state
expenses from exceeding the reve-nue
kd figure
Schneider has long argued that the
Hancock Amendment's refund
mechanism is unconstitutional be-cause
it would refund state money,
which comes from a variety of
sources, onlv to those who pay state
lnr- om-e
tax
He said that an average of 300,000
residents and 16,000 corporations
pay no income tax and thus would
receiv e no refund.
One year after fires, Centralians count their blessings
By Adam Jahiel
Missounan staff writer
iTENTKALIA Two kids run
fl across a vacant lot between S houses on South Rollins Street
One scales a small white fence but
avoids the middle, which is black,
charred by fire.
He runs on past a gas pipe protrud-ing
from the ground. A walkway
branches off from the sidewalk
crossing the front of the lot Two
huge trees their tops as black as
mat section of fence guard the
front comers of the property.
A year ago, there was a house
here. Today, it is simply a reminder
of Jan. 28, 1932 the day Centraka
burned.
Though time has healed many vi-sual
reminders of the fires, Central-ians'
memories of that day remain
vivid. Many have mixed emotions
about what happened, and most can-not
believe a year has passed.
Twelve months ago, residents
were counting then-- losses family
pets, keepsakes, valuables, prop-erty.
Today, they talk of looking
back and realize that although they
lost much, they also gained.
Most residents say the disaster
seemed to bring the community to-gether.
People worked together and
made it through the pains of lost
homes. The goodwill, the caring, the
assistance and the sacrifices remain
inthe minds of those involved.
Shortly before 10: 30 ajn. one year
ago today, a city employee acciden-tally
severed a natural gas control
line while digging a trench with a
backhoe. A blast of high pressure
gas shot through the city's low pres-sure
system. Within seconds, pilot
lights on stoves, water heaters and
furnaces turned into flame throwers.
More than 50 buildings were burned.
DGaaxi?
Miraculously, no one was killed.
At 10 30 a. m the fire dispatcher
received the first calL Within 20 min-utes
another 36 calls were received
Soon after those first calls, the fire
departments of Boone County,
Hallsville and Sturgeon arrived.
Firefighters from Little Dixie Fire
Protection District, Moberly, Mexi-co,
Columbia, Ashland, Randolph
County, HuntsvHle, Pans and High- be- e
all sped to Centraka. Areas with-out
firetrucks sent men in any avail-able
vehicle All in all, 17 or 18 units
with 150 to 200 firefighters helped
battle the blazes.
Even so, there were problems: Be-cause
Centraka had a six- ma- n police
department, a volunteer fire depart-ment
and a brand new civil defense
group, there was not enough help im
mediately available.
" You have to get on a fire within
the first 8 to 10 minutes, or you real-ly
don't stand much of a chance,"
says Fire Chief Terry Mansfield
Despite all efforts, rune homes
burned to the ground and more than
50 other builidings were damaged.
Cox, 77, hved at 313 N. Al-N'etlean
St in the house where she
was born in 1905. She grew up
there, left, and then returned after
marrying. Mrs. Cox was at home
when the bouse caught fire.
Her two sons had finished remod-eling
it just four months before the
fire. " I was so proud of my house,
but that pnde was short- live- d. It was
a terrible experience and at my age
it must be twice as bad."
Mrs. Cox went to a relief center,
where she followed the disaster on
the news. " I watched my house bum
down on the news so many times,"
she says " I try to look at it in a good
way. It must have happened for a
good reason, but I'm not sure what
that reason is . . .
" It was wonderful the way every-body
pulled together," she contin-ues,
" but it's a terrible way to find
out who your friends are " The
townspeople really worked hard to
help each other, she says
Kessler, 18, was in school Kenthat morning. He was walking
down a hall when a friend told
him his house was on fire At first he
thought it was a joke, but then the
school custodian told him to go
home
When he arrived at 330 S. Hickman
he saw his house ablaze His father,
Richard, stood in the front yard
" The first thing I did was ask Dad
See CENTRALIANS. Page BA
Lonely wait ended
Family introductions begin new life after seven- ye- ar separation
United Press International correspondent
Paid Vogle was forced to leave his Vietnamese
wife and their three children when Saigon feB
ia UTS. Be was reunited with Ids family Thurs-day.
He filed this report
HO CHI MDJH CITY, Vietnam We had
been separated for seven years, seven months
and 22 days but when Mai Chi and my three
children ran across the departure lounge to
hug me, the long, lonely years melted away
like magic.
The reunion was an emfft?"" moment for
my wife and me, bat five minutes after their
mother had reintroduced the lads to their long- lo- st
father, the three of them were chattering
away like I'd just come home from a day at the
OffVy,
Tuan, 11, began tugguig my sleeve, asking if
he really could go ice skating when we get
home to Plymouth, Mich.
Then, bored with watching his mother and
I rne exchange whispered endearments, he dove
into my shoulder bag and scampered off with
my tape recorder and my camera both of
which he learned to operate with alarming
speed.
My eldest boy, Kiet, 15, tried to be more
grown- u- p, but when I admitted ignorance
about his chances of making the local football
team he ran off to join his brother in mischief .
My living doll To Nga, 12, primly inquired
about the school she would be attending and
bow soon she could start because " Daddy, I've
missed quite a bit already."
Mai Chi looked thin and tired after so many
years of keeping the family clothed and fed
wim the illegal sidewalk coffee shop she ran in
Saigon,
" I jusfrneed to relax for a while," she said
when I asked her what she would like to do
first " I've been waiting for you for seven
years and I'm sovery tired."
The site of our family reunion, Tan SonTJhut
Airport, was the place where I first met Mai
Chi in 1964 when she was a 19- year- o- ld
salesgirl at the souvenir counter and I was a
32- year-- old war correspondent
We were quietly married by a Roman Catho-lic
pnest in 1967, bought a farm outside Saigon
and settled down to raise a family. We made
one tragic mistake we neglected to register
our marriage at the local city halL
When Communist forces marched victorious
into Saigon on April 30, 1975, rumors of a blood-bath
spread and, frightened for our children,
Mai Chi destroyed our church marriage certif-icate
and every other document that linked her
to the American enemy.
The bureaucratic tangks had begun and
when I was escorted to a plane out of Vietnam
on June 5, 1975, 1 had to go alone.
The following seven years of red tape, lost
documents, bungling by both our governments
and ourselves was a nightmare that will haunt
me for the rest ofmy life.
The bitter state of U- S.- Vietaam-ese
relations
made it all the more difficult to piece together
the documentation we needed for family reuni--
fication.
I was petrified she would tire of waiting for
me that she would remarry, or worse, join
the hundreds of thousands of ' boat people"
who fled Vietnam illegally and became the
easy prey of tropical storms or pirates bent on
rape and murder.
This year there was a ntw fear Kiet turns 16
this summer the draft age in Vietnam. I was
terrified that he would be drafted and sent to
Cambodia with Vietnam's 200,000- ma- n occupa-tion
force
But when word came that we had satisfied
both the American and the Vietnamese bu-reaucracies
and my family soon would be with
me, my nightmares turned to sweet dreams.
And the reality is even better than the best of
those dreams.
We leave for Plymouth next week where we
will remarry in a ceremony designed to meet
the requirements of the ILS. Immigration au-thorities.
And then we can get down to the busi-ness
of Irving happily ever after.
Body found;
suspects held
Two suspects were in custody
Thursday night in connection with
the death of Darryl R Murray, 40, of
4203 W Rollins Road.
Murray's body was found about
9 30 p m Thursday in the Finger
Lakes State Park area seven miles
north of Columbia, according to a
Columbia Police Department press
release
Murray was reported missing
Monday
Boone County Medical Examiner
Jay Dix said the cause of death has
not been determined. The body ap-peared
to be frozen, said Dix, who
was taken by police to the site where
it was found
Dix said he expected to perform
an autopsy today
Pokce refused to release any addi-tional
details
W) S7 6pm Boys basketball. Rock
Bridge vs Fulton. Rock Bridge
gym
6pm Boys basketball Hick
man vs Springfield Parkview
Hickman gym
7pm Star Trek City on the
Edge of Forever film Room
114. University Physics Build
mg
8 pm Consortium Chamber
Players and soprano Debra
Dean Lata Raney Wood Ball
room Stephens College
Inside
Business 7A
Classified 3- 4- C
Comics 6A
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Sports 1-- 3C
Weekend 1- 4- B I